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O Perfume do Boi (translated: “the perfume of the bull”) was shot during a three-month anticlockwise journey around Portugal’s borders.

Outside cities, out in the fields and in the woods, in small town circuses, with the lunatics and the acrobats. The very strong narrative feeling comes with an equally strong suspicion that there might be no story. The photos of the animals and people combined with the natural elements, cause a sense of eminent danger and trouble. There is an aura of prophecy and myth, and in the end we are left with the echo of a cry in the night.

“The Japanese five elements are, in ascending order of power – Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Void”, says the author.

The first two books of this series are sold out: MASTER AND EVERYONE and I THOUGHT YOU KNEW WHERE ALL OF THE ELEPHANTS LIE DOWN. This trilogy of titles were designed like classical music scores.

André Príncipe travelled from Lisbon to Tokyo by land and by sea, with a desire to escape, to go places far away. The initial feelings of uneasiness and alienation fade as empty bars and hotel rooms give place to windows of trains and the vastness of the desert, and return as we approach the Asian big cities. The strongly cinematic sequence was designed to be read from right to left as well as from left to right, expressing the circular aspect of the journey.

‘I was already far away, in a city, and wanted to go to the mountains. Asking around, I came up with a phone number. I told him where I wanted to go and where I came from, and in his very poor English, he managed to tell me that he’d never seen a Portuguese, even though his grandfather had been half-Portuguese. He also told me it would be okay to go with him. We were quiet most of the time, walking through the forests. “Eat, sleep now, stop,” he would say, and then he would smile. It was difficult for him to understand my question, but when he finally understood, he said, “Smell of tiger precedes tiger.” I was astounded at his sudden mastery of English. He said nothing more. For the next hours we walked in silence. Our footsteps echoing through the forest.’
André Príncipe, from the Lisbon/Tokyo notebooks

Master and Everyone’ presents a sequence of photographs – mostly portraits – reflecting on photography’s right distance to its subjects and the master/ student relationship.

JFB: Somehow, I got the feeling that you were asking ‘Where are the masters? … who are they? … and what are they doing? “… and this feeling that the answers will be found in unexpected places.
AP: Sure, that’s it. Till you stop looking, and you’re just doing your thing.
(A conversation between João Francisco Barreto and André Príncipe)

This is the first book of a triology.
These books were designed like classical music scores.

I Thought You Knew Where All Of The Elephants Lie Down continues André Príncipe’s exploration of photography as a way of knowing reality.

The book has a strong narrative feeling, with two distinctive parts; a very precise sequence of images of girls and animals is followed by a hazy, dreamlike worldview.

An existentialist travelogue that defies the idea that there are pots of gold at the end of the rainbow.

The book’s title refers to Leonard Cohen song.
This is the second book of a triology including two other titles: Master and Everyone and O Perfume do Boi.
These books were designed like classical music scores.